THIS IS LIVING

How I Found Health and Happiness

Part autobiography, part pep talk, part meal plans and recipes (these last created with Weight Watchers' help), this is Georgy Girl actress and Weight Watchers spokesperson Redgraves's account of how she conquered the ``Fat Ogre'' and (by implication) how you can too. In a style that alternates between unfleshed summary and italicized emotional immediacy, Redgrave tells of growing up in an acting family with a father (Michael Redgrave) who seemed oblivious to her presence, of career and family milestones and happiness with her actor husband and their three children, and especially of her battles with that inner Fat Ogre: the yo-yo weight gains and losses, stretches of bulimia, and finally taking control with Weight Watchers' help and maintaining a 35-pound loss wince 1982. There is also a 25-page question-and-answer interlude, said to be taken from some of her public appearances, where she expands on her new positive habits, her eating-out strategies, her liberation from alcohol and coffee, and so on. As a celeb or ``ordeal'' bio, the book is a little bland, and for other overeaters it's only an example, not a guide. Still, the dual appeal of these popular genres can't be discounted (remember Liz Takes Off), and Redgrave comes across as a likable and sympathetic figure.